The Press., 1887-03-10
CHEEK OR GERhrAN-WHlCHa !

s+ IF A college graduate, prominent in the profession, said to us recently ssH could exchange my knowledge of Greek | for German, it would be worth eveevtniJ to me now. It is mortifying to be depend l ent on others for information as to what is | going on in the great medical centers of | the old world"
 Our friend spoke the sentiments of multitudes, who in their collegiate days spent in acquiringa knowledge of Greek the time which would have made them proficient in any of the modern languages. Amid the cares of busy life they have no leisure now for the German grammar and lexicon.
 Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in the an nual oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard recently, had the cour- l age to advocate a radical change in the course of studies pursued at that nniversi- l ty. It is seldom at college commence ments that so much wholesome truth is told. He asserted that the traditional col lege course does not fit the graduate for the duties of life, but diverts him from them. He appealed, in confirmation of his charge, to the experience of his great grandfather, his grandfather and his fath- CT, also to his own experience and that of his brothers John Adams, the second president of I the United States, had learned what Greek was taught at Harvard, and at the age of forty two was appointed ambassador to France. They did not talk Greek in Paris, and he found himself in an awkward pre- dicament from ignorance of the language. The same was afterward true of John Quincy Adams, and of Charles Francis Adams, and had been true of the orator. RloV Snfo A6oRk ok, II, had been shindrances and waste of time to every liberally educated member of the family, and that his experience has been Eby no means exceptional. The same time devoted to the study of the modern Ian guages would be of more advantage, tho the speaker did not object to Latin, since | atin issthe parentof most of the Erlrop lean languages. As for the vaunted discipline obtained from the study of Greek, it is no more than can be acquired from the study ot German he thought that Plato and the venerRred names of Greek literature were greatly overestimated by tradition, anc that as an intellectual exercise 1t would bt just as beneficial to the students to mem orize Rants 'tCritic of Pure Reason."
 In short, Mir. Adams considered tn. Greek worship as fetich, and would reor ganize college educatipn by leaving ou Greek and substituting German anl French. All certainly that is. valuable ii those old writers, Plato and Aristotle, etc (and there is very much that is rubbish) could be obtained through the medium o g translation. sq.#| 4n fsaE rg7sa5,.
 For yBung men intending to enter tn, medical profession, it is Q pity to waste year of study. and spoil a a'y good pair O eyes over Greek declensions, and dialecte variations, and in trying to get the hiddel meaning of authors who give no mor' Ipraotioal thought than ean be obtainec from the masterpieces of Engllh litera ture, while the Continental languages stil remain unknown, and the whole broat field of physical science remains unex plored
 The radical change which MT. Adams ,s eloqnently argues for must come sooner o later, If our colleges would keep step witt the progress of modern ideas-Medica Record.